


The Company Man

by space0bongo



Category: Prison Break
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Pre-Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 15:19:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10879518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/space0bongo/pseuds/space0bongo
Summary: For all intents and purposes it was an arranged marriage.





	The Company Man

For all intents and purposes it was an arranged marriage.

Aldo Burrows was a company man through and through, one of the highest ranking that Sara's father dealt with, and definitely the one to sway if you had certain political ambitions. Unfortunately for Sara the only way he could be swayed was through her.

"He has two sons," Governor Tancredi told Sara one morning during one of their meticulously scheduled brunches. "I really don't care which one you pick as long as you turn up to the wedding in July."

"Am I allowed to continue on at the prison?" She pushed her salad around the plate. Her father scoffed derisively but didn't say no. That was a plus. "How negotiable are living arrangements?"

"It depends on the brother," Tancredi flicked through his phone. "Aldo doesn't care about what you and the elder one decide. The younger one, however, has certain health conditions that require someone to live with him."

As uncomfortable as this conversation made her, Sara's professional interest perked.

"What kind of health conditions?"

Tancredi shrugged. "No idea. I guess you'll find out when you meet them."

Sara sighed and finally put down her fork, her appetite lost. "I guess."

She met Lincoln first because he was already in Chicago. Tall, shaven head, roughly spoken, he was too much like the inmates she worked with for her to be truly comfortable in his company.

"You're still a doctor right?" He asked at the end of their date as he waited with her for her cab. When she nodded, "good. Michael needs a wife who'll be able to look after him."

"I thought it was my choice who I married?"

He looked at her like she was insane. "You really gonna pick an ex-con like me over an engineer?"

Sara shrugged. "It's not like I need the money. I might pick you because I think you're hot."

Lincoln laughed. "You're only saying that 'cause you haven't met Mike yet. Trust me one look at his baby blues and you'll fall head over heels just like the rest."

Michael arrived at Fox River three weeks later. He introduced himself to the receptionist as her boyfriend, said they had a lunch date, and Sara walked out to meet him with the receptionist's crawing practically still in her ear. ("I didn't know you were dating, doc! And such a cutie too!")

He was the only one in the atrium and Sara blinked up at him, bewildered by the sight of him in his thousand dollar coat and what looked like her dad's Rolex on his right wrist. In his left hand he clutched a walking stick, the clawed kind they gave out at hospitals. Like his brother, Michael's head was also shaved. But he had black stitches criss-crossing his scalp in perfect lines - a clear product of recent brain surgery.

"You're even more beautiful than your photos," he said softly in lieu of a greeting.

Sara, who didn't have the benefit of photos, just continued to stare in silence.

Lincoln was wrong. Michael wasn't more handsome than his brother, not exactly. But there was something about the softness of his expression that made Sara's gut twist in longing. Men didn't often tend to look at her softly. In fact they rarely looked at her at all unless they wanted a quick no strings hook-up.

"I thought we could go grab some lunch. There's a diner around here right?"

"Across the street."

"Perfect." He held out his arm in silent invitation and after only a brief hesitation she took it.

"I was told that it was my choice who I picked," Sara said as she picked at her burger. Opposite her Michael struggled to spear his salad with his fork. He kept missing, kept dropping his fork. Occasionally he'd rub his left temple when he thought Sara wasn't looking.

She'd been a doctor too long not to know the short list of illnesses that could cause symptoms like that. Most of them were terminal. "But that's clearly not true, is it?"

"You could still pick Lincoln," he said frustrated, finally giving up on his salad, but staring at it longingly as if he wanted nothing more than to eat it. Without saying a word, Sara reached over to his plate with her fork, speared a tomato, and lifted it up to his mouth. He frowned at it but opened his mouth anyway. "You should pick Lincoln," he said darkly as he chewed. "He doesn't need to fed like a damned child."

"If that were true, Michael, you wouldn't be wearing my father's watch." She speared an avocado slice and offered it to him. "My mom gave it to him before they married," she said thoughtfully as she watched him eat. "It means a lot to him."

"I'll be sure to leave it to him in my will," he smirked but it faded quickly. "It's a brain tumour," he said quietly. "Not Cancer but the doctors said it doesn't matter. It'll kill me anyway unless..." His eyes darkened. "There's an experimental procedure but it's risky. Dad," he said the word awkwardly as if he wasn't used to it. "Dad wants me to father a child before I do it. He never particularly cared about marriage, but your dad convinced him of the merits of being related to a future vice-president."

"So even if I married Lincoln I'd be with you," She realised with wide eyes but continued to feed him. Another fun fact about being a doctor, she supposed. Sara couldn't stop caring even when she should. Michael's eyes narrowed at the comment but didn't say anything.

"Okay," Sara said eventually. "I'll do it."

"You'll pick Lincoln?" He asked with a vulnerability that caused a pang in her chest. She carefully placed her fork on his plate and reached across the table to cover one of his trembling hands under her own. His hands, she noticed, were slightly smaller than hers. Inexplicably the realisation made her smile.

"I'll pick you," she teased. "Of the two of you, I think you'd probably be able to afford the better ring."

"So it's a tactical decision," he grinned and the effect on his face was stunning. His entire face lifted, his eyes lightened until they were almost colourless. In that moment Sara couldn't help but think Lincoln was right. Michael was handsome, so much so she blushed just to look at him. "I can live with that."

Three days later she received an origami tomato at Fox River with 'Marry me?' scrawled at the top. She laughed as she carefully pulled it open, Katie giggling over her shoulder the entire time, and both of them gasped when the ring was finally revealed.

Sara's eyes watered as she cradled it carefully in her palm. It wasn't much as a piece of jewellry. It was old but not valuable enough to be an antique. The band was yellow gold, still scuffed from it's previous owner, and barely even 9 carats. The stone, an emerald, was a pale watery colour that was almost colourless except under the right kind of light. Then it exploded into so many shades of blue it was like looking into an ocean.

"It was my mom's," she told Katie thickly even as she kissed it, even as she put it on with trembling hands. It was a perfect fit. Someone must have had it resized for her. She wondered if it was Michael but then dismissed the idea just as quickly. It would have been her dad.

"It suits you," Katie grinned. Sara agreed. It definitely did.

-/-


End file.
